


The Bat and The Bug

by TheBrcklayer



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, BAMF Cassandra Cain, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Batman References, Bisexual Female Character, Canon Disabled Character, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Could be read that way anyways, Crack Relationships, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, DC Comics References, Dorks in Love, F/F, Humor, Just not with Damien Wayne for once, Kinda, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Character of Color, MariBat, Minor Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Saltless, Sign Language, This is my reaction to a tired plot, no salt, selectively mute cassandra cain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 22:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBrcklayer/pseuds/TheBrcklayer
Summary: “You missed one,” the figure said, in a feminine tone and wait those weren’t wings. That was a cape. It almost touched the earth, trailing back behind her. “A rookie mistake.”“R-Rookie?” Ladybug said, somewhat offended. The bat girl nodded, saying nothing more before taking flight. Ladybug repeated the word, this time sounding more dumbfounded. “Rookie?”-----MariBat, but not with any of the Robins.How 'bout Marinette/Cassandra Cain instead? On a case in Gotham, Ladybug finds herself intrigued by the mysterious silent knight...
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Cassandra Cain
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	The Bat and The Bug

**Author's Note:**

> Not making any money off Ladybug, or Batman either for that matter. I own neither, alas. Also, huge thanks to my proofreader miraculously_amazing for their help.

The city stretched out over the landscape like a sickening sprawl, promising death to the unaware and general moral decay. Like a tattered, musty lice-filled blanket, it wrapped itself around its populace as if to give them the illusion of protection against the dark. It festered with rats and smelled of old food and maybe a bit of bleach, trying to cover up the blood.

It could be easily twisted from protection to trying to strangle you at a moment’s notice, and your death would barely be a footnote in history. People said not to come here, to this messy No Man’s Land, this city of the damned.

...so why was she here?

She looked out over the city, lights like fireflies erupting over this apparent pustule of a city. Sirens rose up from the streets like a whine, adding to the cacophony of noise. Atop a lonely gargoyle she rose up, seeing the expanse in front of her.

Her red suit stuck out like a sore thumb against the pitch-black night, her eyes narrowing in on a scene below her. Her chase had led her far from the streets of Paris, from the City of Lights all the way here to Gotham City.

Taking a running leap off the gargoyle she went into a dive tucking in her limbs as she rocketed towards the ground. Spinning into a flip, she slid down a shingled roof top before tucking in her legs again as the ground raced up to greet her. Landing with practiced ease, the heroine strode through the alleyway.

 _“You’re not in Kansas anymore girl…”_ Ladybug said to herself before grunting out in distaste. She’d lost her quarry, him vanishing into shadow. _“Damn! I may have to stir up the waters, see what pops out. Until then… what?”_

Her question was soon answered by a scream, and she could not ignore it as she broke into a sprint down the alleyway. Her footsteps were as light as a feather, never touching the ground for more than a few moments.

Leaping up onto a rooftop, her vision blurred as she clambered up the building and overlooked a scene. Like a tape repeating itself, this was something that played time and time again in this city. Rather unfortunately.

“Alright, just give me the pearls, lady!” a thuggish voice beckoned from below, three lowlifes surrounding a woman who’d probably been just walking home. Maybe from the movies. No, strike that. There was a fourth man.

All had knives and guns. In practice, easy enough to deal with if not for _her._ One wrong move, and there would be a body laying bleeding out on the ground. She’d have to be careful, strike quickly. With a flip off the rooftop she landed behind the thugs.

“Hey, I hate to break up this party, but I think I’m going to have to escort you guys home for drunk and disorderly conduct,” Ladybug remarked, not her best quip admittedly but it worked well enough. “Now, do I need to go get the bouncer and escort you out gently or do I have to get mean?”  
  
“Who’s the chick?” one of the thugs asked as they leered at her, some closing in with knives drawn.

“I dunno, is she one of the Bat’s kids?” another asked. “She looks like one of the Robins! She looks like she should be in the circus!”  
  
“Nobody I recognize, must be somebody new…” the apparent leader mused. “And if she’s new, then well this should be a piece of cake!”

“I like her pyjamas,” someone else added, the now 19-year-old heroine shuddering at the tone in his voice. “I’m going to enjoy ripping them off her!”  
  
_“Run!”_ Ladybug mouthed to the woman before calmly reassuring her: _“I’ll take care of this.”_

“Can you even take care of yourself?” the leader roared, ready to plunge a knife into her gut. Not really wanting to see if her suit would protect against a blade to her stomach, Ladybug dodged to the left upon instinct cartwheeling along the ground as a gunshot rang out.

Then another, and then another as she easily maneuvered out of their sights. One thug lunged at her, the spotted heroine grabbing him by the arm and tugging him forwards. Her other arm came down with a **_Crack!_ **as she slammed an elbow into his skull.

To his credit, he didn’t immediately crumple to the floor like a limp ragdoll. With a spin like a ballerina, Ladybug then shoved a boot into the thug’s stomach making him lurch backwards. 

_“Watch out criminals, this girl is dynamite!”_ the heroine thought to herself with a small smirk. Slamming a fist into her outstretched palm, she cracked her knuckles, her muscles rippling like waves out at sea.

“You guys want to give up yet?” Ladybug asked watching the thugs surround her like wolves before the kill. “I mean, I don’t want to send you guys to the hospital but I can. Don’t make me do it.”  
  
They drew their knives.

“Ooooooh, my one weakness, sharp small and pointy objects!” Ladybug went on, with practiced deadpan learned from spending years with her partner. “Seriously though guys, you saw what happened to your partner. I ask you, do you really want to take chances?”  
  
“Come on, she can’t all handle us at once!” the thug leader cried out. “Get her!”

Turns out she could handle them all at once, taking down two in a split kick while forcing another to the ground in a full _hurricana_ before wrapping herself around him in a leglock. As the thug slipped into unconsciousness from a lack of air, Ladybug advanced on the final thug. The leader.

“As I said,” Ladybug said, still striding up to him dusting her hands off with the guy shakily pointing a gun at her. He looked about ready to fire in a panic, his face showing terror. “Did you really want to take chances?”  
  
“S-Stop, or I-I’ll shoot!” the formerly bravado-filled man shouted before her yo-yo slammed into his forehead knocking him into unconsciousness.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Ladybug deadpanned before finding the woman from before curled up hidden behind some crates shaking in fear. “You can come out now, it’s safe. It’s over.”  
  
“T-Thank you…” the woman said as Ladybug helped her up by taking the outstretched hand. “Who are… Look out!”  
  
One of the men hadn’t been quite as unconscious as she thought apparently, and ready to plunge a knife into her back. She didn’t have time to react, before the alleyway seemed to grow even darker.

Something fell over it like a shadow, a demonic figure rising high from above the rooftops. It fell towards them, expanding wings and landing on her attacker with a **_thud!_ **

“You missed one,” the figure said, in a feminine tone and wait those weren’t wings. That was a _cape._ It almost touched the earth, trailing back behind her. “A rookie mistake.”

“R-Rookie?” Ladybug said, somewhat offended. The bat girl nodded, saying nothing more before taking flight. Ladybug repeated the word, this time sounding more dumbfounded. “Rookie?”

\-----

Her thoughts were a jumble, even as she swung from building to building hoping to arrive at the scene of the crime just in time. A murder in the night, the police were already swarming the area.

Oh well, time to make herself known. ...had Gotham ever experienced magic before? Or was that just a Paris thing?

“Well, sorry I’m late,” she said to the cops, introducing herself to a Latina officer a few years older than her. Montoya, her badge said. “I came as soon as I heard.”  
  
“...man, Bats must have adopted another one eh?” a heavy-set man, wearing a coat grumbled as he gnawed on a donut. It seemed some stereotypes were universal. “Who’s this one? And more importantly, why should we care? They’re popping up like rabbits!”  
  
“Shut up Bullock, in my experience when the hero has something to say you listen to her,” Montoya snapped at the detective, who rolled his eyes when he thought she wasn’t looking. “I apologize for him, _mariquita_ though I can’t say I’ve seen your face before.”

“Yeah, I’m from out of town,” Ladybug introduced herself.

“Well, I suppose we were overdue for an alien,” Bullock drawled. “...that’s what they always say to hide who they are in the movies right? That they’re from ‘out of town’? Oh, don’t give me that look, you know I’m right!”  
  
“I haven’t come to eat your brain, Inspecteur,” Ladybug replied politely before thinking to herself: _“Assuming it hasn't already been eaten.”_

“Oh yes, that’s real reassuring!” Bullock returned going ignored.

“So, I assume you know something about this, _insecto carmesí?_ You sound like you know something we don’t,” Montoya replied. “Anything we should know?”  
  
“Unfortunately, I know probably about as much as you,” Ladybug admitted with a sign kneeling over the body. “I admit I am no _La chauve-souris_ sadly. But I do know who did this, even if I don’t know where he got his powers. I’ve been tracking him all the way from Paris.”  
  
“You’re a long way from home then!” Montoya commented with a low whistle. “I gotta admire your dedication _mariquita._ Are you sure you’re not one of the Bat’s?”

“Sorry, no, hahahah, I wish. Even in Paris we know about Batman,” Ladybug answered, still looking over the body. “...mhmm, scorch marks, same as the others.”  
  
“Others?” Montoya said in shock. “You mean your man has killed before?”  
  
“No, he’ll kill again,” Ladybug corrected. “To be more accurate.”

She felt a shadow looming over her, and nervously turned to see her savior from the night before. 

_“Give me a name,”_ she signed. _“I guarantee there is no place he would be able to hide, this is my city. I rule the night.”_

“He’s originally from my city, he came here fleeing me,” Ladybug challenged, still annoyed with her apparent dismissal of her abilities from before. “He’s my case, so let me deal with him.”

“Ladies, please, you’re both pretty,” Montoya tried to defuse the situation before murmuring to herself: “...can you even have jurisdiction conflicts with superheroes?”

 _“And he is now in my city,”_ the Bat Girl tried to argue. _“You may have brought him here, but he is my responsibility now. I would suggest you head back to Paris, because I fear for you.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Fear for me?” Ladybug questioned.

Her fellow superheroine’s eyes softened, apparently growing less harsh under her cowl. She signed: _“You did not have the proper situational awareness while stopping those thugs. I just don’t want you getting hurt while challenging a true super criminal.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I… you don’t need to worry,” Ladybug answered, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

 _“Don’t touch me.”_ the Bat Girl signed before moving the hand off.

“In any event, I’ve fought supervillains before,” Ladybug said, trying not to sound like she was bragging. “Check the Ladyblog, you might have heard of it. I’m not sure.”  
  
_“I don’t use social media, I find it dulls the mind,”_ her fellow hero replied. _“Distracts from the really important issues.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Fair enough!” Ladybug admitted with a shrug as she watched Gotham’s Silent Knight head back to her bike, her cape flowing in the night wind as leaves swirled up from the cobblestone.

 _“In any event, Gotham is… different from your home city,”_ the Bat Girl went on. _“It’s criminals are more ruthless, brutal compared to France’s own. I do not want you to get hurt. People like you… they don’t last long out here. This city spits them up, chews them out if they aren’t careful.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I defeated Hawk Moth, I think I can handle myself,” Ladybug replied before she sighed. “Bernard Blanche.”  
  
The Silent Knight apparently raised an eyebrow at her, even as she got on the bike with her cape retracting into her suit. 

“Bernard Blanche, that’s who you’re looking for,” Ladybug confirmed with a nod. “A gesture of cross-sea relationships. To improve our working relationship.”  
  
_“We’ll see,”_ the Bat Girl signed back before driving off into the night. _“Good hunting… Rookie.”_

“I’m not… I’m not a…” Ladybug sighed deciding not to argue the point.

In all honesty, she wasn’t entirely sure _why_ the woman rankled her so much. She wasn’t even a bully like Chloe used to be. She wasn’t super smug in her own superiority, she wasn’t the usual American.

So what was it?

Who was she?  
  
Sneaking back to her hotel room for while she was in Gotham, Marinette considered her curiosity appropriately peaked. Pulling out her laptop, she began going for a Google.

The Batgirl, huh. Simple enough name, but it got straight to the point. Apparently she’d only been active a few years. ...actually, she hadn’t been active for much longer than her, which was interesting.

Marinette had sorta _suspected_ that she was not entirely green here, but was still slightly fresh to the job. ...huh, apparently there had been a Batgirl before her, but it looked like this second one had taken up the cowl in her stead.

Rumors and speculations ran rampant as to what had happened to the first Batgirl. Had she died? Retired? There was a Batwoman now, maybe she’d just simply grown up and passed down her old mantle.

...man there was a Bat-everything apparently nowadays. What next? A Bat-Hound? A Bat-Cow?

But in any event, it seemed the new Batgirl’s track record was pretty successful given how quite a few gangs had been broken up when she arrived. More to the point, it seemed even super-criminals cowered before her. The most notable headline was about Two-Face being arrested, his whole gang at the time falling to her alone. 

_“Okay, consider me sufficiently impressed,”_ Marinette mused to herself as she read a passage about the new Batgirl taking on Intergang. _“Like… uh, wow.”_

“Wow, talk about a career…” Tikki commented as she flittered over her chosen’s shoulder. “She’s making quite a name for herself! Are you sure she doesn’t have a Miraculous?”

“No, Tikki, I… don’t actually think she does,” Marinette remarked, rubbing a hand on her chin in thought. “I’ve been doing some reading on the Batfamily, as I guess they’re called. I don’t think _any_ of them have any magic powers!”  
  
“So you mean they’re doing what they do all on their own?” her kwami realized. “Amazing! Humans surprise me more and more every century. Still, she doesn’t seem to realize that you’re a fairly competent hero in your own right. She called you a rookie! You’re as experienced as her, if not more so.”  
  
Tikki’s cheeks puffed up angrily, which was less intimidating and more adorable. 

“Easy Tikki,” Marinette giggled. “I’m not mad, and besides she’s right to be concerned. Gotham isn’t Paris, it’s far more dangerous. Besides, I really didn’t leave a good first impression handling those thugs now did I?”  
  
Still, as much as she wanted to leave Bernard to the girl, her conscience wouldn’t let her. Gang members were one thing, but this guy had magic on his side!  
  
Flying out of the window in a flash, she called for her transformation as magic washed over her in a crimson sea of light. Throwing her yo-yo, she swung to a nearby rooftop before running along it as she leaped to the next building.

Her costume had changed over the past couple of years, her new look visible in the mirror-like windows of a skyscraper. Instead of a spotted onesie, it was now a zip-up suit with her longer hair kept in ribbons. 

A shadow darted across rooftops, Ladybug giving chase as she recognized the figure. They raced for a bit, before meeting up on a gargoyle.

“Hey Bruce…” the Batgirl patted the gargoyle, apparently familiar enough with it. The two were overlooking a warehouse, intense motion below them.

“You named your gargoyle perch?” Ladybug questioned.

 _“Don’t you?”_ Batgirl signed at her, and _no_ she would not give her the victory of knowing that _yes_ she’d named her perches atop Notre Dame. Francois and Raphaël would remain her little secrets thank you very much!

“So, how goes the hunt?”

 _“He’s gone underground, your Bernard,”_ Batgirl replied, still signing. Ladybug thought about asking her why she did that instead of speaking, but thought the better of it. _“He’ll emerge eventually, for now though… well, this city always has something to deal with.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I looked up your achievements,” Ladybug said admiringly. “I see why you’re so sure of yourself.”  
  
_“As I said, I rule this city. The night belongs to me.”_

Batgirl was lining up her camera phone, possibly to snatch proof of dirty dealings below. As she pulled it out, Ladybug caught a glimpse of another woman as her wallpaper. She wore bright magenta garb, a hood over her head with a black mask over her lips.

“Who’s…?” she asked, unable to sate her curiosity.

 _“My partner,”_ Batgirl signed, though her hesitance hinted at something more. 

“Mm-hmm,” Ladybug nodded, not really willing to leave it there. “And?”  
  
_“My ex, we dated for a while but you know how it goes I assume,”_ Batgirl replied. _“We simply couldn’t make it work, it was no fault of her own. We were just better off as friends.”_

“I’m sorry,” Ladybug admitted. “I know how that feels.”

 _“It is none of your business anyways,”_ her fellow heroine went on. _“Besides, I fail to see why you care or why we’re even talking about this. It’s nothing for you to be sorry about in any event. Relationships change, people grow apart. It is simple as that.”_

Ladybug was resting up against the building wall as she watched Batgirl film what went on below. “Alright, jeez, I was just being sympathetic… Why are you so cold to me anyway?”  
  
_“I’m not in this job to make friends,”_ Batgirl replied. _“Besides, you will be gone within a few days once Benard is caught correct?”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I mean… if you give me a reason to stay…” it had slipped out, Ladybug unable to stop herself.

_“Oh?”_

“It’s nothing, just silly old me!” Ladybug rambled, feeling like a teenager again. “Just ignore me, I said nothing. Nothing at all!”

Batgirl eyed her critically, not believing her from the expression she wore.

“So what was her story, anyways?” Ladybug inquired, eager to change the subject and when Batgirl eyed her some more she went on: “What, just being curious. Just playing _detective._ Two can play at that game, unless you’re not keen on me muscling in on your territory…”  
  
Batgirl’s body shook with what might have been a laugh, it was hard to tell. _“Alright, if you must know, Spoiler’s father was a villain. Big shocker in this city, right? Called himself the Cluemaster, some second-rate Riddler wannabe. Spoiler found out, and decided to ‘spoil’ his plans. Not a very original name I know.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Neither is Batgirl.”  
  
Batgirl shrugged, as if to say ‘fair’ and concede the point.

“Anyways… thugs?” Ladybug gestured down below.

“Thugs.”

And the two leaped into action...

\-----

Another night passed, Bernard not showing his face but crime seemed to find themselves up against a new threat. The duo of the Bat and the Bug.

“I am the terror that buzzes in your garden, I am the overstuffed pastry that lands in the lap of crime~!”  
  
A true ‘shame’ one of them was less fearsome and more a dork though. 

“I am… not Darkwing Duck, but I _am_ Ladybug!”  
  
_“Do you not worry about scaring criminals?”_ her partner asked of her as they went all Crouching Bat, Hidden Dork on the criminals of Gotham. Lowlifes under low light.

“I’m in a red polka-dotted suit, I’m hardly a scary sight,” Ladybug deadpanned, her yo-yo wrapping around a crook as she pulled him upwards. 

_“But a cute one though!”_ Batgirl signed before giving out what was probably a sigh at her apparent slip-up.

“Cute huh?” Ladybug grinned, watching her partner dodge and weave through the opposition with barely a sweat. “Fishing for compliments are we?”  
  
_“Don’t let it go to your head Rookie Bug,”_ Batgirl signed at her, her new nickname apparently a step up. _“Just focus on the threat in front of you.”_

Her fight was more like a dance, never letting anyone get close to her even as thugs swarmed her like flies to a picnic. She leaped over two before shoving them to the ground, while using her cape to shield against deadly blows. The cloth was apparently hard as steel, perfect to stun an opponent with as it slashed through the air.

 _“For someone who’s apparently not magic, she sure could have fooled me,”_ Ladybug eyed the strange fabric, her fashion designer mind at work. It couldn’t have been a cheap job, given it’s properties. Clearly, whoever Batgirl was or whoever was backing her had access to a fair amount of cash. _“Hmmmm, that narrows it down to… oh, just about every member of the bourgeois in Gotham doesn’t it?”_

Her eyes were drawn to Batgirl’s movements, expertly practiced. Her muscles rippled like the sea, growing taut with each movement as their owner did her dance against death. They stretched, concise and controlled and…. Ooooh, she was eying her like a piece of meat wasn’t she?  
  
_“Bad Ladybug!”_

Damn skin-tight costumes.

 _“Just be glad Batgirl hasn’t caught you staring…”_ she thought to herself, punching a crook in the face. Her face gained a brief look of panic. _“...has she?”_

In any event, all fell down to their blows. Gunfire riddled the floor, as up on a rafter Two-Face took revenge for his minions so easily defeated.

“Okay, ewwww, I get you have to have this whole symmetry thing going on, but…” Ladybug wrinkled her nose at the sight of the villain’s suit. “Purple and orange? Really, man?”  
  
Leaping off Batgirl’s shoulders, she jumped up to the upper level, outracing bullets.

“Seriously, your costume offends me!” Ladybug said taking a dive before drop kicking Two-Face. “I haven’t seen such terrible costumes since my Hawk Moth days. What, were you two cellmates once? Did he give you a suggestion for your costume?”  
  
“Little Bug talks too much,” Two-Face said before flipping a coin up into the air. “Let’s let the coin decide your fate. Shived, or shot!”  
  
Before it landed, a grapple wrapped around his legs, pulling him up towards the chandelier and letting him hang there.

 _“Make up your mind, okay?”_ Batgirl said. _“Your perplexity for relying on the coin leaves you open.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Instructing supervillains huh?” Ladybug smirked at her.

 _“Everyone has to have a hobby.”_ Batgirl silently deadpanned.

“Gotta ask, how do you move as you do?”

 _“Eying me, Rookie Bug?”_ Batgirl seemed to smirk back.

 _“DAMN! Caught!”_ _  
_ _  
_ “So how…?”  
  
“My father…” Batgirl paused, leaving her partner waiting on the answer. “Was what Nightwing calls a fuck.”

“Holy shocking developments…” Ladybug muttered, deciding not to question it further. What was it with her partners and coming from broken homes anyways?

Another night passed, the two meeting up in their usual spot.

 _“Another night…”_ Batgirl signed. _“Another hunt eh? Let’s hope Bernard shows himself tonight. I’m… antsy I suppose.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I know what you mean, I’m getting worried about it myself. That we’ll never catch him.”

_“Nobody escapes my grasp, don’t worry.”_

There came a shriek in the night, both young women sharing a look as it reached their ears. No time to swing for it, so Batgirl wrapped a hand around Ladybug’s waist tightly. The red-suited heroine was blushing even as she was pulled downwards into a dive with her fellow hero’s cape becoming like wings.

Through stone and concrete, they fell to the grimy streets below with a flash of blue magic lighting up the darkness below.

Finally, Batgirl’s hand shot upwards and she fired her grapple gun letting the claw grab onto a streetlamp as she swung towards Bernard. Like a demon out of hell, she came.

Both the Bat and the Bug erupted from the dark, kicking Bernard in the stomach as his prey ran for it. The villain slid backwards, the two heroines taking up fighting stances.

“Hahahaha, so you actually pursued me all the way from Paris, Ladybug?” Bernard laughed, a glove on his hands crackling with energy. It was like nothing she’d ever seen, technology-wise. It looked practically alien to her. Maybe it was. “I have to applaud your tenacity!”

“And I have to applaud…” Ladybug seemed to search for the word. “...actually, no there’s nothing to applaud here is there? Except maybe how quickly you want to get yourself thrown in jail.”  
  
Her yo-yo was spinning in a crimson arc.

“So where’d you get the glove?” Ladybug asked, her partner reaching for her belt. “I doubt you just so happened to have just picked it up at _Le Marche de Saint-Pierre_ eh?”

“My dark god will bring down hellfire on you plebeians!” Bernard screamed. “He will break you, bring the apocalypse!”

“So a cult then…” Ladybug nodded making the ‘okay’ sign with her hand. “Gotcha!”

 _“Well, lucky for you there’s a cell in Arkham waiting just for you…”_ Batgirl signed.

“It’s too late to fix anything, now that everything has gone wrong, thanks to Bernard naughty Bernard all along…” their foe giggled, discordantly, hysterically.

“...yeeeeeeah, you’re nowhere near cool enough to take charge of that song.” Ladybug muttered with a shake of her head.

 _“...why do I have the feeling there’s something I’m missing here?”_ Batgirl asked herself. Ladybug shoved her to the ground as a blast of blue light shrieked through the air. It ruptured the street, screaming out a warning.

“Now who’s the rookie?” Ladybug gently teased her as Bernard fired off another blast and then ran down a side street. “Situational awareness~!”  
  
_“Smugness doesn’t suit you,”_ her partner returned before pointing the direction their quarry had run. _“After him, he’s rabbiting!”_

The two ran down the street, the path in front of them barely illuminated by old street lamps as they chased him into a church.

“Aaaaaaah, churches. Spots of new life, baptism! It is here where I received a sign from God!” Bernard laughed spinning around with a giddy grin on his face.

 _“I am quite sure God would puke at the sight of you.”_ Batgirl seemed to say with a folding of her arms and a foul look.

“Not your God, my God,” Bernard said, the two heroes diving to avoid another blast of energy which cut through the air and scythed through church pews. Splinters flew through the air. “He knows all, he sees all. He _is!_ Eventually, all will fall before his might, so says he!”

 _“I’ll keep him occupied,”_ Ladybug signed to her ally. In another time, she might have been positively giddy at working with a member of the Bat Clan. Not today though! _“I’ll draw his fire. You just do you!”_

She ran up the side of a wall, in perfectly practiced motion as Bernard tried to turn her to dust with his weapon. Meanwhile, Batgirl slid under the man spraying something on the floor below, a type of green gel at a glance.

She pulled out what looked to be a detonater, and the man went flying from an explosion. Ladybug bounded off the wall, latching onto him, and tried to pull apart his glove.

Bernard pulled her into the church pews as they fell, before kicking her in the stomach. The heroine staggered, even as Bernard lined up his shot.

Then, even as he fired, Ladybug was pulled away by Batgirl’s grapple as a blue blast ruptured through old stone.

Batarangs flew through the air and down came the church bell plummeting towards Bernard. It landed atop him, enveloping him like a cloak.

 _“For whom the bell tolls!”_ Batgirl signed even as the cracks began to glow with a blue hue. _“That won’t stop him, we need to get moving. Make a tactical retreat.”_

Pressing something she’d fished out of her belt, a black bike crashed through the wall, Batgirl pulling her new partner onto it as they raced out the doors. 

The bike stuck like glue to the streets even as a roar like a lion came up from behind. There was Bernard, on a bike of his own.

“You will not escape judgement!” he called.

“Do you take an IOU?” Ladybug snarked at him even as Batgirl dodged and weaved through traffic. 

They headed into the industrial district, Batgirl forcing the bike into a slide and smashing through the rusted doors of a warehouse.

The two took stances, even as Bernard rushed in on his bike. Batgirl, like an Old West gunfighter, drew her weapon and tossed it through the air. It latched onto Bernard’s bike, exploding and making it tumble end over end.

Ladybug pulled the crazed villain off of it and slammed him into the ground in a leglock. Somehow though, her quarry managed to wriggle himself free and she knew there was only one thing to do.

 **_“LUCKY CHARM!”_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ **Batgirl watched in obvious confusion as a polka-dotted little cube landed in Ladybug’s hands, making her utter: “What am I even supposed to do with this?”

The strange cube crackled and hummed with otherworldly energy. But she still had barely a clue as to what it was even for.  
  
Her vision offered her an answer, to simply toss the cube at the creep. With a shrug, she tossed it like a professional pitcher. What however, she did _not_ expect was for the man to be sucked away in a wormhole with a booming sound.

 _“Well, that was…”_ Batgirl searched for the word before finally settling on one. _“Unexpected.”_

“Y-Yeah,” Ladybug panted with beads of sweat rolling down her face, at least grateful she didn’t have to worry about a timer anymore. “Thanks for the help.”  
  
“Anytime,” Batgirl said, apparently one of the few words she could speak with an Asian-tinted accent filtering through. “Cassandra.”  
  
It took a few moments before Ladybug realized what she was being offered. “Marinette.”  
  
And Cassandra smiled at her under her mask. _“Pleased to meet you… Marinette.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo, yeah. Maribat. By this point, it's a bit worn out at least in my opinion given I've read a few fics and... you know honestly I can never tell the difference between a few of them.
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I'd *love* for Marinette and co to meet Batman but why use this as an excuse to pair her up with Damian? I mean, there's plenty more that can be mined from this, as I remember distinctly a Batman story with the World's Greatest Detective teaming up with the duo to stop Hawk Moth and the Joker. Can we have more of that? Rock the boat a little.
> 
> Anyways, enough of my ranting. Cassandra is awesome, and deserves more love. Best Batgirl, sorry Babs but you're much cooler as Oracle. Also, you a fan of Ladybug, and are you searching for a place to share your love for the series? Join us here at the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord! ](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks)


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